Posted by Patrici Flores on Saturday, April 05, 2008 01:15 am
Tonight, at the same time as the “surprise” Counting Crows performance, the Daily Cal hosted its annual ASUC elections forum. Candidates for the executive slate gathered ’round in the bowels of Barrows Hall to express their platforms, discuss their differences and … draw penises on the board.
In short, it was madness. We’ll leave it to the upcoming Daily Cal endorsements to pan the informational gold–but for now, the Clog is happy to give you a few memorable highlights from each part of the ridiculous (and, thankfully, brief) evening with the candidates!
Posted by Patrici Flores on Tuesday, March 18, 2008 09:49 pm
There’s a myth floating around: To get the most out of ASUC Senate elections, you need to vote for “the right people.” The Clog disagrees. To get the most out of elections, we recommend attending as many campaign kick-off events as possible. There, potential student politicians live up to the promise of free food. You better savor it, too, ’cause you know they probably won’t live up to their real promises!
Join presidential hopeful Curtis Lee for cheesy sticks Wednesday at 6 p.m. in 126 Barrows, or find out who Yishi Zuo is at his Wednesday 10-11 p.m. campaign kick-off. Zuo will have “plenty of food and drinks as well as sign in sheets in case you would like to help with my campaign.” Sure thing, Yishi. But if cheesy sticks and sign-in sheets don’t whet your appetite, don’t fret. Just do a Facebook search and pick from a diverse set of offerings.
In addition to campaign kick-off parties, however, there’s YouTube. From video blogs to campaign trailers, ASUC hopefuls utilize every college kid’s favorite procrastination tool to get their name out there. read more »
Posted by Nate Tabak on Monday, April 16, 2007 11:22 am
This morning’s Daily Cal tells us that ASUC candidates spent almost $12,000 on campaigns or roughly $0.35 per student, according to preliminary numbers.
Student Action presidential candidate Ilana Nankin dished out the most money, putting down $630 out of a $1,000 maximum allowed.
Presidential campaign spending went as low as $0, something for which Beetle takes credit.
Of course individual spending doesn’t tell the whole story, as the Daily Cal notes.
According to ASUC election bylaws, a candidate must declare campaign material to the Elections Council if it includes their name. However, if the material includes multiple names, members of a slate can split the cost.
Naturally, independent candidates don’t like this with people like CalSERVE’s Van Nguyen adding his name to $2,000 of slate materials.
And by independent candidates, we mean Travis Garcia, Mr. Whiner himself, who tells the Daily Cal:
“They can reach a much bigger audience than I can, because they can split the costs.”
In the words of Fleetwood Mac, “If I could / Maybe I’d give you my world /How can I / When you won’t take it from me / You can go your own way.”
We just think ASUC candidates should rethink this whole campaign literature brouhaha for something more tangible such as doughnuts.
Buying in bulk, $12,000 could probably secure a doughnut for almost every student. Shit, they could even be iced with campaign slogans for maximum effect.
The ASUC elections are up and running, but all that work wasn’t easy. Nobody said politics was easy. (Just ask today’s selfless drum-banging, free ice-cream giving and water balloon throwing campaigners. It’s a dirty world out there, and somebody’s gotta race the vibrators.)
We haven’t seen any real scandals yet–no perjury or illegal chalking–but there were a few disturbances in the ASUC election machine.
On Wednesday, the Daily Cal reported on two issues brought to the Judicial Council the previous night.
Guillermo Murga, an independent senatorial candidate, filed against Jessica Wren, the Elections Council Chair. He alleged that he was treated unfairly because he missed a candidates’ meeting. He requested a delay of the elections to right some wrongs.
It was a no-go. The Daily Cal reports that Wren said
Murga could not prove that missing the meeting, not having an updated copy of the candidates’ guide and not being listed in the voters’ guide was a disadvantage to Murga’s campaign.
Oh! She’s feisty.
The Daily Cal also covered the hearing on the Student Life Fee referendum. (That’s the $12 one, FYI.) Vishal Gupta said the order of the referenda violated equal protection. He, too, wanted to postpone the elections.
The story states
While the order of the referenda on the ballot is chosen randomly, Gupta said that because the randomization placed the referenda in order from smallest to largest proposed fee hike, there was even more of a need to have the ballot re-ordered.
Apparently, for Gupta, it was random, but not random enough. The Judicial Council told him to cry a river, build a bridge and get over it.
Today, the Daily Cal covered yet another election-related oh-no-they-didn’t. Andy Kelley, a part of the ASUC Office of External Affairs, sent an email promoting CalSERVE to his friends…including the whole of Bowles Halls. Typically, campaign material is not permitted in the campus residence halls.
Wren gave him a slap on the wrist and that was all. The Judicial Council did not take action against him, but it could have held the mentioned CalSERVE candidates responsible.
We think she’s losing her zest, but perhaps she is resting up her mighty powers of justice for the inevitable election scandals to surface after everything’s said and done.
Voting continues tomorrow and ends at the stroke of midnight. Cast your vote, and let’s hope something really wet and juicy hits the fan.
Posted by Nate Tabak on Sunday, April 08, 2007 08:48 pm
With the ASUC elections just days away, we’ve got a mighty case of blue balls.
And its not just because we’re so anxious see what craziness erupts starting Wednesday. We’ve been saving our load for when a candidate takes on the most important issuing facing student government: gratuitous elevator usage in Eshleman Hall.
Specifically trips between the first and second floor—the location of the executive offices—irk us the most. Unnecessary and a waste of energy, it reflects a cavalier attitude on the part of ASUC officials and their associates.
More importantly, it inconveniences us when traveling to and from the Daily Cal offices on the sixth floor.
We’re not the first people to point this out and Eshleman isn’t the only place on campus where this happens. Hell, there’s even a Facebook group.
Berkeley blogger Beetle (Justin Azadivar–ASUC candidate for everything) released his predictions for the ASUC elections along with his own personal endorsements. Do his endorsments even mean anything beyond the blogosphere? We don’t know, but we do know that he doesn’t even endorse himself.
Beetle picks Van Nguyen of CalSERVE for President, Taylor Allbright of CalSERVE for EVP, Ben Narodick of SQUELCH! for EAVP (even though he’s not running for this position) and Ajay Krishnamurthy for Student Advocate. He has “no fucking clue” for the office of AAVP. Hmm…Justin Azadivar, anyone?
The official Daily Cal endorsements don’t come out until Tuesday, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a little fun with the senators now.
The Clog presents: Special Awards for Special Senators. Brought to you by Facebook stalking.
You may not win the election, senate candidates, but you’re all winners in our hearts.
Dude, You Need to Stop with the Videos Already Nadir Shams, #56 - Indepedent. He lists NINE links under “Website.” And yes, we’ve all seen the “Numa” video.
We’re Not Even Sure You Exist Cuz We Couldn’t Find You on Facebook
Dimitri Garcia, #74 - DAAP. Angela Aguilar, #77 - DAAP. Falola Takapu, #78 - DAAP. Maryjane Castillo, #81 - DAAP. Ana Luz Acevedo-Cabrera, #83 - Student Action. Beverly Elithorp, #88 - Student Action. Ross Ligenfelder, #96 - Berkeley Squirrel Party. Kevin Heikin, #111 - SQUELCH!. Sarah Brennon, #114 - SQUELCH!. Daniel Galeon, #130 - CalSERVE.
We don’t understand.
You’re Taking Too Many Classes. Stop Showing off Already. Maribeth Moore, #70 - UNITE Greek. SIX classes? Are you serious? And are those graduate classes we see? We’re not worthy! We’re not worthy!
Your Facebook Picture Makes Us Want to Take a Bite out of You Gabe Weiner, #98 - SQUELCH!.
We’re just in the mood for weiners. Not Wang, not Narodick–just a nice juicy Weiner.
Gets Hyphy for Jesus Edward Chow, #133 - CalSERVE. His Facebook status reads: “Edward is singing, ‘Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah!’ cuz his homeboy is Risen from the dead.” We bet he had one helluva good Friday.
We didn’t like the original song to begin with, so we think your version is better by default. Even if you don’t win, we’re absolutely sure you’ll get a record deal. Have you, by any chance, heard of William Hung?
Loading ...
There’s a myth floating around: To get the most out of ASUC Senate elections, you need to vote for “the right people.” The Clog disagrees. To get the most out of elections, we recommend attending as many campaign kick-off events as possible. There, potential student politicians live up to the promise of free food. You better savor it, too, ’cause you know they probably won’t live up to their real promises!
